the dad is trying to justify to his son why his Santa identity should be kept secret. Hello, why didn't you just use superhero/secret identity logic? You know, how all superheroes have secret identities and Santa is like a superhero. Kid would understand that and probably love the responsibility of being a superhero's most trusted secret-keeper.

So, yeah, I've seen Elf, Jingle All The Way, The Santa Clause, and A Charlie Brown Christmas with my students.

^ I don't know.. For whatever reason, I don't mind him so much as other not-good actors.

*I actually would have thrown Big Trouble in the list of movies I like with him in it, but the music in the film is so bad, it ruins the whole thing for me.

EDIT: Also, he IS Buzz Lightyear. That role was originally intended for Billy Crystal, and honestly, that would have been a strange voice for that character. Although I admit I probably only feel that way because it's in retrospect.

Tim Allen plays a great pompous jerk who can't see past his own ego. The rest of the time, you could have literally anybody else fill that role just as well, if not better.

The reason why he's a better Buzz Lightyear (beyond the fact that he's still the only Buzz Lightyear), is that he also does macho guy very well, which fits Buzz like a Tee (in fact, the whole reason why he was even picked for Home Improvement was due to his grunts and jockular mannerisms). The problem with the Santa Clause trilogy is that such an attitude doesn't work very well for the Big Red Guy.

For the first Santa Clause movie, Tim Allen being a macho wiseass jerk does work because it's all about a very reluctant guy having to don the Santa Claus mantle; the last guy you would expect to don the mantle and he resists for a long time. He doesn't quite grow into it till near the end of the film and he's into it just long enough in the film to not be smarmy. I refuse to believe there are sequels. In much the same way, I refuse to believe there were ever sequels to Home Alone.

« Last Edit: December 22, 2017, 06:41:07 PM by Dincrest »

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For the first Santa Clause movie, Tim Allen being a macho wiseass jerk does work because it's all about a very reluctant guy having to don the Santa Claus mantle; the last guy you would expect to don the mantle and he resists for a long time. He doesn't quite grow into it till near the end of the film and he's into it just long enough in the film to not be smarmy. I refuse to believe there are sequels. In much the same way, I refuse to believe there were ever sequels to Home Alone.

Hey man, Home Alone 2 was too good not to exist. Tim Curry running a hotel who's staff is trying to crack down on Kevin was better than anything from the first movie (sure the movie had no real moral unlike the first one, but details).

With the Star Wars prequels, I blame the directing more than the acting since Natalie Portman, Ewan MacGregor, and company are all skilled actors. Hayden Christiansen too. He was very good in Shattered Glass and in the Star Wars prequels, he was at his best when he wasn't talking. When he was acting purely through facial expressions and not saying a word of insipid dialogue, he was chilling in Ep. 3.

I will be seeing Last Jedi next week.

Lucas hadn't written anything in a long time and it showed to top it off he really had no one to tell you no, you can't do this. He might have had a bit more success if he decided to write 7-9 instead but sometimes with prequels you are more boxed in with what you have to write and its a tough sled. Hayden didn't deserve the stick he got in those movies. Yes he was miscast and there isn't really much you can do with that dialogue. Shattered Glass was a very good movie.

Last Jedi was like many of anime series I watched. A bunch of excellent scenes, I like the characters too but the plot is an absolute mess.

With the Star Wars prequels, I blame the directing more than the acting since Natalie Portman, Ewan MacGregor, and company are all skilled actors. Hayden Christiansen too. He was very good in Shattered Glass and in the Star Wars prequels, he was at his best when he wasn't talking. When he was acting purely through facial expressions and not saying a word of insipid dialogue, he was chilling in Ep. 3.

I will be seeing Last Jedi next week.

Lucas hadn't written anything in a long time and it showed to top it off he really had no one to tell you no, you can't do this. He might have had a bit more success if he decided to write 7-9 instead but sometimes with prequels you are more boxed in with what you have to write and its a tough sled. Hayden didn't deserve the stick he got in those movies. Yes he was miscast and there isn't really much you can do with that dialogue. Shattered Glass was a very good movie.

I've actually been watching a web series that has been going over the behind the scenes stuff related to the Star Wars movies, which is currently releasing episodes on the prequel films. Worth a watch/listen if you've got some time as there was a lot of factors that lead to what we ended up with.

It's Christmas, so the TV in my house is always tuned to 24 hours of A Christmas Story. Love that movie. It's easily my #2 favorite Christmas movie. My #1 is Nightmare Before Christmas.

Anyway, watching it this year I've come to the realization that Ralphie and Schwartz are really dirtbag friends to Flick. I mean, Ralphie and Schwartz abandon Flick when he gets his tongue stuck to the flagpole and do nothing to try and help him. Then later on, when they're all attacked by the bully while walking across the schoolyard one morning, Ralphie and Schwartz turn tail and run, abandoning poor Flick to be their whipping boy. And to add insult to injury, when Ralphie is pressed by his mom to reveal where he heard the F-bomb he throws Schwartz under the bus, but if you listen to the voice during the phone call, it's Flick's voice getting whooped. Ralphie essentially sold his friend out for an official Red Ryder carbine action 200-shot range model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing with tells the time.

Of course Flick, ever the loyal sidekick, never rats Ralphie and Schwartz out or anything. Flick's too good for them.

...and no matter how many times I watch the film, I always cringe during the scene where Ralphie's looking for his glasses then crrrunchhhh.

« Last Edit: December 26, 2017, 06:51:13 AM by Dincrest »

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I don't get a Christmas vacation where I am, and I haven't really celebrated Christmas for a while now. I have, however, watched a few not-so-Christmas movies.

I watched Arrival after hearing quite a few good things about it. I found it good for the most part, but I think I might've actually preferred if the entire movie was like the middle portion, where it's the very slow-paced, methodical kind of scifi movie, rather than it turning into a bit of Hollywood schmaltz at the end. Kinda reminds me of Sunshine and Interstellar, but not nearly as egregious as the former or as absurd as the latter.

Saw two pretty old films in Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) and The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951). The former makes me kinda want to see what a more light-hearted fantasy movie like the old Robin Hood movies would be like with modern tech, instead of the grimdark serious reboot/reimagining/regurgitations we get. The latter was a film I never got around to seeing before, but I did enjoy it a lot once I did. Reminds me a lot of an old Twilight Zone episode, in the best possible way.

Also rewatched District 9. Not much to say aside from that it still holds up as a great film for me. Sucks that Blomkamp's films have been getting progressively worse since it, but hopefully he'll get back on track instead of going the way of Shyamalan.

I saw that new Jumanji movie. Mostly enjoyed it but ultimately forgettable. In the future if I had to I'd probably just watch the original instead. I think Dwayne Johnson is a good choice for a comedic anchor to the whole thing as a follow up to Williams in the original, but I think what this movie was missing was satisfying that part of your brain that likes seeing things get destroyed in action/adventure movies. This mostly took place in a fictional jungle setting, though that was probably done to differentiate itself, and I don't want to be the kind of guy that goes "its different now it sucks". Also whoever wrote the movie at least has actually played video games before- nothing more embarrassing than when some guy who's never played video games before tries to write a movie or TV show episode about one.

Watched some more older movies in Excalibur and The Dark Crystal. The former kinda reminds me of the 1963 Cleopatra in that I appreciate there's a movie that's ambitious enough to do a full run-through of the story in one breath, but the result lacks cohesiveness as one would expect. The Dark Crystal was an amazing visual treat but was also mostly boring, and not in a good way.

I also watched the Mad Max tetralogy. Fury Road is still awesome and I'm really looking forward to when (if) George Miller makes a new one.

Watched some more older movies in Excalibur and The Dark Crystal. The former kinda reminds me of the 1963 Cleopatra in that I appreciate there's a movie that's ambitious enough to do a full run-through of the story in one breath, but the result lacks cohesiveness as one would expect. The Dark Crystal was an amazing visual treat but was also mostly boring, and not in a good way.

You know, I also recently watched The Dark Crystal for the first time as well as rewatching Labyrinth as well.

I have to agree with you on TDC since its a neat 80s high fantasy adventure story, but hell, there's only so much you can do with puppets, and half the time I kept thinking to myself "Those are some really nice puppets they've got there, but man oh man, watching them get roughed up or smashed makes me feel bad."

Labyrinth meanwhile continues to remain a movie that's about something or other, but really, you're here for David Bowie.

I'm actually surprised that I made it through December without also catching The Neverending Story.

I caught yet more 80s movies in Dragonslayer and The Last Starfighter. Like a lot of similar movies that came out at this time, Dragonslayer's story and characters are basically disposable but the special effects and the dragon itself are just so damn cool to look at. One thing did happen near the end that was kinda surprising, and I imagine it traumatized any kids that watched it back in the 80s. The Last Starfighter wasn't quite as impressive since it's more of a time capsule looking at early use of CGI, but it did have a charm to it, although I wonder if it had come out today if the ending would've been criticized.

Also I watched Contact. It's one of those films I'd think I would've watched sooner given that I gravitate towards fantasy/scifi so much. Anyway I think I might have a new favorite as far as this kind of scifi movie goes. I certainly enjoyed it more than the more recent Interstellar or Arrival at least, and a large part is because the ending doesn't fall too far into the realm of ridiculous movie science. I suppose some might find the dialogue a bit too on the nose towards the end, but I prefer this sort of ending for a scifi movie over the more emotionally satisfying ones the other two aforementioned movies go for.